Friday, July 8, 2016

Thinned, but not broken

Just before turning the lights out for the night, I saw the news about four Dallas police officers (now five) being ambushed and murdered while providing security for people exercising their right to protest.

Yesterday - during the day - watching news coverage of the LA and MN shootings, I had an odd feeling of "Will these be the straws that break the camel's back?" I never would have imagined that what happened last night would be in Texas.

Since Ferguson, I have predicted that as a society, we are careening toward civil or racial war in this country, hoping I was wrong. Some in the blogosphere this morning have declared that "It's on!" and launched scathing [verbal] attacks on the BLM movement. Though I'm no fan of the BLM, I was encouraged when I saw that one blogger had removed such a post.

There's a lot of finger pointing going back-and-forth at the over-sharing circus blogger's page and in the comments section. Perhaps the most intelligent thought over there this morning was from a commenter (not me) who succinctly wrote: "Ive got so very much I'd like to say regarding all that's happening, but I believe there should be a period of respect for the fallen. I won't stir the pot."

I also have a lot of thoughts and things I'd like to say. We may never know for sure why these public servants were coldly murdered, but we can wait for an investigation for better insight and clarity. Rather than adding fuel to the fire, can we act - as Abraham Lincoln said (paraphrasing from Psalms 147:3) - and work to bind up the wounds that divide us?

2 comments:

My thoughts: The last thing I thought about before bed was a post I wanted to write about the inevitability of something like this happening.The one killer they showed on street level murdering the police officer behind that column obviously had some CQB (Close Quarter Battle) training. He walks squared, with measured paces and carries the weapon at the low ready- he may not have been SF or whatever- but I would be shocked if he was wasn't military AND had some good close quarters drill training.Whenever I first saw BLM in print I interpreted it first as Bureau of Land Management and wonder how they got mixed up in the issue being discussed.